When Religious Beliefs Overpower Human Rights

1489 WordsJun 23rd, 20186 Pages

Free societies benefit from a separation of church and state, while others are greatly governed by a combination of the two. The problem arises when religious beliefs overpower human rights, and oppression takes over. At the center of its core, Buddhism emphasizes on meditation as the path towards liberation of the wheel of samsara. To further my understanding, I chose to focus on a Tibetan meditation practice known as Vajrayana, which is the most important practice from the Theravada schools as a means to the liberation of all sentient beings, hence, eliminating oppression and suffering (Lewis, 69). To gain a greater understanding and appreciation for this practice, I participated in a meditation service and lecture given by Buddhist monk…show more content…

According to Lopon Wandgu’s lecture, visualization of self as an enlightened being is the reason why one meditates. Empowerment, which comes from the embodiment of the five wisdoms of the Buddha, allows for praise and offering through recitation (mantra), which “rotates around the seed syllable at the heart” (Wandgu). Dissolution during meditation allows for the environment to be melted into the “seed syllable”, finally melting into emptiness. During the final stages of meditation, one must arise again “as deity.” The last part referred to as the dedication, requires the “practitioner to dedicate the merit [from the merit bank] of meditation to the benefit of all sentient beings” (Wandgu).
After the main meditation section, the practitioner is required to try and keep the feeling of being an intrinsic deity. Lopon Wangdu, stated that meditation is not for ourselves, but for the liberation of all sentient beings and for the enlightenment of deities that are capable to help other sentient beings. Lopon Wandgu explained that that are three types of practitioners, inferior, middle person, and the superior. For the purposes of this paper, I will focus on the superior level, because at this level one knows that we are all on the same “samsara boat” (Wandgu), and the only “way out” is to help others reach a mind of enlightenment. In Vajarayana practice we also take refuge in the Dharma protectors, who are highly advanced beings capable

Cultural and religious beliefs often dictate family structures, and the beliefs of those cultures and religions, especially regarding genders, are then reflected in power dynamics. This happens because cultures manipulate people’s perspective of viewing genders because of their religious beliefs. Some families are shaped according to this belief that men are more important and the boys in a family get more privileges and more attention than the girls. Different cultures and their beliefs make the boys…

When people list driving forces of society in different countries, the answers vary from government to economics and to education, among a vast list of other possibilities. In the case of the South Asian state of India, religion is one of the primary foundations for both their past social systems and current institutions and it is recognized as a predominately religious region. Though the country is constitutionally secular, religion plays one of the largest roles in society. The numerous theologies…

In his book, The Religious Beliefs of America’s Founders, Gregg Frazer attempts to break apart the debate going on today about whether or not the founding fathers were Christian. In the preface of the book, Frazer states, “I want to force extremists on the Left and Right to make a case for their vision… this book is an attempt to allow [the Founders] to defend themselves through the written record of their words.” In his book, Frazer makes arguments that eight of the most prominent Founders were…

ABORTION
PERSONAL RIGHTS VS. RELIGIOUS BELIEFS
AECHMIA COTE
LAW 103
BAY PATH UNIVERSITY
One of the many controversial topics in the United States is ABORTION. It is defined as a Removal of an embryo or fetus from the uterus in order to end a pregnancy as described on dictionary.com. I must say that, days of research it seems to be a debatable issue especially when it comes to religion and one’s personal choice in life to choose to do it, and remains to be…

into Charles Darwin’s religious beliefs and have come up with a wide variety of answers. Why are his personal beliefs important when dealing with a matter of science that Darwin researched? Darwin excluded the question of a Creator from his works because it was irrelevant to his scientific research, and the debate regarding Darwin’s faith arises due to his conflicting accounts of his personal faith as well as the way his early childhood and teenage years shaped his religious views at different times…

relationship between gender, religious participation and religious organisation
Studies of religious belief verify consistently that the female gender shows greater participation to religion than that of males. This greater commitment to religion described by sociologists such as Bensen applies throughout the course of the woman’s life, and as noted by Glock and Stark, their greater pledge to religion is consistent regardless of the religious organization, whether it be New Religious movements, New Age spirituality…

It is a question that has become increasingly difficult for religious parents to completely ignore: Are parents who raise their children to hold religious beliefs instilling a form of permanent indoctrination? Many atheists argue this today, one of the most famous being zoologist Richard Dawkins. In a detailed article about this topic, he stated, “There really is an important difference between including your children in harmless traditions, and forcing on them un-evidenced opinions about the nature…

Relationships between humans, religious beliefs, and nature can be complicated. Today humans seem to be more disconnected from nature than ever. Modern society is to blame because most people live indoors and spend a lot of time watching television or on the computer than being outdoors in nature. Human societies have responded to the environment based off migration, invention and discovery. The Industrial Revolution had a major impact on humans and ecology. The Industrial Revolution changed human lifestyles…

Rationality in Religious Belief
The obtaining of information is an inseparable part of human life, and
therefore in what ever one may do; one will always collect
information. To be of any value, the information collected has to be
reliable, and one does not seem to doubt the reliability of evidence
because they believe it to be logical, unless they are a sceptic.
Some say that religion is something we cannot prove because we
acknowledge religion through our feelings…

Religious Belief System
REL/330
Religious Belief System
A belief system is a system that is an opinion which determines how we interact with every aspect of out life. Your belief is something that is stored deep into your subconscious mind that will either give you the drive you need to succeed or tell you that it is ok to fail. Religion is a particular type of belief system, but not all belief systems are religion. Telling the difference…